How to Change a User's Login Shell on Linux (chsh)

The login shell is the last field of a user's /etc/passwd line. Change another user's shell as root with chsh -s:

sudo chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh deploy

Change your own shell

Without a username, chsh changes your own shell (it prompts for your password):

chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh

usermod does the same thing as root and is the scriptable choice:

sudo usermod -s /usr/bin/zsh deploy

The change takes effect at the next login, not in the current shell. To try a shell right now without making it permanent, just run it: zsh.

The shell has to be in /etc/shells

chsh only accepts shells listed in /etc/shells. If yours is missing, chsh refuses it:

cat /etc/shells           # the allowed login shells
which zsh                 # where the shell actually is

If zsh is installed but not listed, add its path to /etc/shells (as root) and chsh will then accept it. usermod -s does not enforce /etc/shells, which is a footgun: it will happily set a path that does not exist and lock the user out of logging in.

Check the current shell

getent passwd deploy | cut -d: -f7     # the shell field for one user
echo "$SHELL"                          # your own current login shell

A nologin shell disables interactive login

Setting the shell to nologin is how you keep a service account from being logged into, while it can still own files and run daemons:

sudo usermod -s /usr/sbin/nologin appsvc

This is also part of locking an account fully.

FAQ

See also

• How to Create a User on Linux: set the shell at creation with -s.
• Lock and unlock a user account: the nologin shell as a lockout.
• Run a command as another user: service accounts with no login shell.
• List users and groups: read the shell field across all accounts.